Some interior walls are fabricated from sheets of wallboard or drywall. During installation, the wallboard sheets are fastened or nailed to frame studs. Many of the nails will form small recesses or indentations in the surfaces of the wallboard sheets. These surfaces must be smooth in order for the wall to have a seamless appearance after texture or other wall treatments are applied. The process of smoothing the wall surface, commonly known as "floating," is performed by applying a thin layer of joint compound or "mud" to the wall to fill in the indentations. The mud is screeded or smoothed before it hardens to make the wall appear over its entire surface. In the prior art, this work is typically accomplished by laborers who apply the mud by hand. Screeding is typically performed by running a drywall knife over the mud applications. This process is time consuming and often results in uneven or inconsistent results.